Now you can add John Hanger, who served as secretary of the state Department of Environmental Protection under former Gov. Ed Rendell.

In an interview with the website PoliticsPA last week, Hanger said he's "seriously looking" at a challenge to Corbett.

So what might push him over the edge?

"I'm engaged in a number of important meetings in the next 10 days. If they go well, I think I'll have something definitive to say by the end of November or early December," Hanger said.

If that's the case, an announcement could coincide with next month's Pennsylvania Society gala in Manhattan, the traditional launching pad for any statewide candidacy.

— John L. Micek

In order to form a less perfect union

There are at least 20,000 Pennsylvanians who want out of America but don't necessarily want to leave their homes.

It started as a small movement by citizens in a handful of states upset over President Barack Obama's re-election, so they petitioned the White House that their state should be allowed to secede. The idea spread quickly and soon disgruntled voters in every state, including Pennsylvania, created petitions and garnered the minimum 150 signatures needed to appear on the White House "We the People" website.

Pennsylvania, in fact, has two such petitions declaring its right to form a new government. One was started by a woman named Karen G. from Hazleton with 7,899 signers; another, by Kathleen B, who did not list her town, has 12,700 people eager to split from the union as of Thursday morning.

A petition receives an official response from the White House if it reaches more than 25,000 supporters. Several states crossed that threshold. Texas, which is perhaps the only legitimate effort, has 107,736 signed up.

There are those against the petitions as well. About 13,000 Americans have signed one to "strip the citizenship from everyone who signed a petition to secede and exile them." And several thousand from Austin have requested they be allowed to withdraw from Texas and remain part of the United States.

— Colby Itkowitz

Students, set the politicians straight

Politicians complain that students in the U.S. are falling behind their peers in other countries in science and math skills. Then in the next breath some of these same pols discount science when they claim the Earth isn't warming.

The contest, with prizes ranging from $200 to $5,000, is open to students in middle school and high school in the United States, Canada and U.S. territories.

As the world population continues to grow and become more connected than ever, the DuPont Challenge asks students to focus on solutions and address one of four categories in their 700- to 1,000-word science essay:

Pennsylvania's exploding public pension costs will wreck the state's efforts to pass a balanced budget in the coming years, the PAIndependent reported last week.

An annual economic report from the state's Independent Fiscal Office forecasts 0.8 percent revenue growth this year and a 3 percent annual growth in the next five years. Compare that to pension costs, which are projected to climb by 46 percent in this fiscal year's budget and by 42 percent in 2013-14.

"The increase in pension contributions is estimated to be about $500 million per year for the next several years," said Mark Ryan, deputy director of the IFO.

State lawmakers spent much of last year wrestling with how to contain the pension beast. One potential solution included making new state employees enroll in something like the 401(k) so familiar to cubicle drones everywhere.

Pension reform is expected to be one of the top issues facing the General Assembly when it reconvenes in January.